The gale of job losses being witnessed in the
country due to the current economic hardship has caught up with Ecobank
Nigeria, which has sacked over 1,040 of its employees.
The PUNCH reported on Tuesday that
Diamond Bank Plc sacked over 200 members of its workforce, while FBN Holdings,
the parent company of First Bank of Nigeria Limited, recently said it would
prune the number of its employees by 1,000.
Investigations by our correspondents revealed that the affected staff members
of Ecobank included full time and contract workers.
Top officials of the
pan-African lender confirmed to our correspondents that the initial list of
those to be sacked had over 1,400, workers but was later reduced to “a little
above 1,000.”
Ecobank spokespersons
declined to comment on the number of workers who were disengaged.
However, the lender said
in a statement that it had converted over 200 outsourced personnel to permanent
employees as part of its drive to attract and reward talent, while also
repositioning for improved efficiency.
In line with the
recognition of excellence, the bank also said it had recently implemented a
merit-based pay increase for the top performers across all cadres.
The Managing Director,
Ecobank, Mr. Charles Kie, was quoted as saying that converting qualified
outsourced staff to permanent workers was in line with the bank’s commitment to
developing and growing talent by nurturing its people along their career paths
and giving them access to higher responsibilities.
He said the bank was
resolute that recognising and rewarding excellence would drive its goal of
achieving exceptional performance in the industry.
Kie said, “The bank, in
its renewed drive for optimal performance, has in addition realigned certain
roles bank wide to ensure improved efficiency. This necessitates the exits of
some staff who were adequately compensated.
“This is in furtherance
of a market repositioning exercise designed to strengthen the bank’s business
across all markets where it operates.”
He emphasised that the
ETI was on a trajectory to achieve leadership and that the Nigerian subsidiary
remained one of Ecobank Transnational Incorporated’s major affiliates as well
as one of the country’s systemically important financial institutions.
Kie explained, “Our focus
is to improve the quality of service to our customers as well as our
operational efficiency.
“We understand that people
are our key assets; so, we have emphasised the need to reward our best
performers, continue to re-invigorate our people, while also opening up new
opportunities for talented and committed people to join us as permanent
employees. At the same time, based on our repositioning plan, we had to
disengage some staff, while ensuring that, in line with industry standards,
they are treated fairly.”
Ecobank Nigeria is a
member of the Ecobank Group, which is present in 36 African countries. The
Group employs nearly 19,000 people from 40 different countries in over 1,200
branches and offices.
ETI had posted over N40bn
decline in its profit for the 2015 financial year owing to high impairment
charges
...punch
No comments:
Post a Comment